Tagged With "prefrontal cortex"

In recent decades, neuroscience and psychotherapy have joined forces in seeking to understand the biological bases of behavior. The brain is a complex organ, and as we study its function and adaptations we create a window of understanding into how our brains, bodies, and psyches respond to traumatic stimuli. Have you ever heard of the triune brain? This is a simplified, three-part model of the brain, as originally explained by Dr. Daniel Siegel , that helps us to understand the neurological...

"Someone who has experienced trauma also has gifts to offer all of us- in their depth, in their knowledge of our universal vulnerability, and their experience of the power of compassion.”- Sharon Salzberg What a week. You’d have to be living under a rock if you haven’t at all tuned in to the tumultuous news cycle in the US. Those that are survivors of trauma (specifically sexual assault and other forms of abuse) are incredibly triggered, and those that provide psychotherapy for trauma...

“Someone who has experienced trauma also has gifts to offer all of us- in their depth, in their knowledge of our universal vulnerability, and their experience of the power of compassion.”- Sharon Salzberg What a week. You’d have to be living under a rock if you haven’t at all tuned in to the tumultuous news cycle in the US. Those that are survivors of trauma (specifically sexual assault and other forms of abuse) are incredibly triggered, and those that provide psychotherapy for trauma...

A new study by researchers at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center of the University of Wisconsin–Madison shows that adults can be trained to be more compassionate. The report, recently published online in the journal Psychological Science , is the first to investigate whether training adults in compassion can result in greater altruistic behavior and related changes in neural systems underlying compassion. “Our fundamental question was, ‘Can compassion be trained...

As it is, more and more researchers studying the healing power of rhythmic movement on people who’ve experienced trauma from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, neglect, or parental mental illness or substance abuse issues. Among these researchers is Dr. Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist and senior fellow at the Child Trauma Academy in Houston who advocates dance, drumming, walking and other rhythm-based movements to help kids with trauma. In a book about trauma and the power of...

Neuroscientist Sara Lazar, of Mass General and Harvard Medical School, started studying meditation by accident. She sustained running injuries training for the Boston Marathon, and her physical therapist told her to stretch. So Lazar took up yoga . "The yoga teacher made all sorts of claims, that yoga would increase your compassion and open your heart," said Lazar. "And I'd think, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm here to stretch.' But I started noticing that I was calmer. I was better able to handle...

An original story for MIT, published December 6, 2019. Having trouble paying attention? MIT neuroscientists may have a solution for you: Turn down your alpha brain waves. In a new study, the researchers found that people can enhance their attention by controlling their own alpha brain waves based on neurofeedback they receive as they perform a particular task. The study found that when subjects learned to suppress alpha waves in one hemisphere of their parietal cortex, they were able to pay...

Research shows that dreaming is not just a byproduct of sleep, but serves its own important functions in our well-being. It’s said that time heals all wounds, but my research suggests that time spent in dream sleep is what heals. REM-sleep dreaming appears to take the painful sting out of difficult, even traumatic, emotional episodes experienced during the day, offering emotional resolution when you awake the next morning. REM sleep is the only time when our brain is completely devoid of the...

I like that! Forgot about those! And one of their best features is that, to enjoy it, you have to slow down and appreciate the effect of the 'glitter storm.' One of my favorite mentors told me long ago that the answer to many of the maladies I was observing was from what she called, 'too much, too fast.' I keep this in mind as much as I can, no matter what the situation, intervention or protocol. And I preach it to my students and clients: Slowing down helps us better regulate our system,...

"Too much, too fast." YES! Simple and clear but not easy to adjust that internal motor/setting/way of responding. Thanks for encouragement, reminder, explanation, and this comment, Jondi! It's just what I needed! Cissy

Thank you, Laura. This is a wonderful model. I learned it in a workshop and use it with my clients. It's a simple and easy way to explain the triune brain. The article you reference is great. Thanks again for sharing this!

Diane, Glad you liked the article! And thanks for the feedback on it. -Laura

In January, we have focused on how mindfulness, prayer, and meditation can help complex trauma survivors climb from the pit of despair into the sunshine of healing. In this last piece, we shall examine the neuroscience behind mindfulness, prayer, and meditation plus tie up any loose ends. Changes in the Brain from Complex Trauma Childhood trauma often leaves its victims with damages to the regions of the brain that control emotions, memory, and reasoning. These brain regions include the...

It’s an enormous understatement to say that healthcare workers today are suffering. Every day, you hear interviews with nurses, physicians, social workers, and others in healthcare saying they’re pushed to the breaking point and beyond. But, by using skills taught in the Community Resiliency Mode l (CRM), even people under severe stress can weather the onslaught, do their work, and get along with colleagues. CRM is an evidence-based training program that’s being used by millions of people in...

Often, people who have a history of trauma in childhood find themselves struggling to flourish in adulthood. Trauma affects the brain in ways that can make you more likely to experience difficulty when faced with emotionally stressful and demanding situations in your relationships, at work, and as a parent. Throughout my life, both growing up and as an adult, I’ve faced a number of challenging life experiences, stressors, and traumas, and I understand this struggle on a deep, intrinsic...

By Michela Balconi, Giulia Fronda, and Maria Elide Vanutelli, BMC Neuroscience, April, 7, 2020 Abstract Background Recently several studies in the psychological and social field have investigated the social function of gift exchange as a useful way for the consolidation of interpersonal and social relationships and the implementation of prosocial behaviors. Specifically, the present research wanted to explore if gift exchange, increased emotional sharing, gratitude and interpersonal...

how true. I love the use of the pictorial metaphors. We use it regularly in Art Therapy sessions. Only we do not use ready made pictures which can perpetuate cultural biases. We ask the client to create his/her own images of "happiness" moments or activities or pleasure giving items. This way the image is personal and comes from personal experiences, thus by placing it on the paper as an image it is mirrored back to the brain and is available as resilience booster. For people who are more...

What the Pandemic Is Doing to Our Brains These changes are not just a product of our imaginations. “It’s all real,” says Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Carleton University Dr. Kim Hellemans, who studies the effects of stress on the brain. “Lack of social interaction, more work happening, always on the screen. All of these things are contributing to a loss of your normal cognitive functioning. We’re all overwhelmed .” An abundance of research has shown that the stress of isolation...

“The most important thing you can do with your children is play with them!” said Dr. Bruce Perry, noted child psychiatrist and author. He was answering the question, “How do we prepare our children to go back to school next fall?” Perry, a brain expert specializing in how children are impacted by trauma, gave a presentation on his neuro-sequential model of brain development to more than 800 people at an Austin Ed Fund event Monday evening. The co-author, with Oprah Winfrey, of the new book...

I have always loved horses. When I was a young girl I collected plastic Breyer model horses, read books about horses, and even watched television shows that had an equine theme. I think it is their exquisite beauty, their inherent wild nature, and the vulnerable and trusting relationship between horse and rider that is the attraction. I purchased my first horse when I was twelve, spending a year cutting lawns, weeding, and babysitting, eventually raising enough money along with my parents’...